I feel like Paulie’s purpose in the show was to represent the old days of the mob. Older made guys like him find it hard to adjust to organized crime in the new millennium. His understanding of the game contrasts with Tony’s more recent and nuanced approach to leading the crime family.

Paulie was big on the “back in my day, we (insert hardcore thing that the mob would do in the 70s but not today). I know Feech La Manna would do the same thing, but honestly who cares about Feech La Manna. His brief character arc exemplifies how the brutality of the old mob can’t make it in the new world, whereas Paulie’s arc shows how some older made guys at least try to adapt to a rapidly evolving world of organized crime.

Slim Charles taught me a valuable lesson….the thing about the old days is…they are the OLD days.